There’s nothing to fear, North Korean officials said, as they unveiled to foreign reporters what they insisted was a nonmilitary satellite. Launched in April 2012, it ended up crashing into the sea. That December the government had better results: A rocket sent a satellite into orbit despite protests from the U.S., South Korea, and Japan.

Faces light up during a 2012 fireworks display in Pyongyang, on the 100th anniversary of the birth of “Great Leader” Kim Il Sung. After his death in 1994, Kim was awarded the title of eternal president.

A tour guide in traditional dress shyly allows her photograph to be taken atop Juche Tower. Western visitors to the reclusive country number only several thousand a year, and their movements are tightly restricted. South Koreans are not welcome.

View from a train window: In fields near the Chinese border, farming depends more on human and animal muscle than on machines. Chronic food shortages in North Korea—caused by floods, droughts, inefficiencies—have led to widespread malnutrition.